How big would a rattlesnake have to be to be record sized?

[Jon B]

Hey guys-Awesome thread. I have the pleasure of hunting with a small group of TBH-ers down in South Texas (Webb county) and they flat out get BIG down here.
I harvested this guy last and he was just at 7’ long. I guess someone put him on the book of faces (I’m not on social media) and I eventually had a news company call me to interview me regarding my “world record rattlesnake” HAHAHA. Anyhow I’ll look back but I think 83” long and around 16” around….not a record but definitely a heck of a snake!
And YES he is being mounted full body in a south texas scene with a bobcat and a quail etc….HONOR YOUR HARVEST!!!

Rusty, that is fantastic information that may affect future travel plans!

[twosixteens]

Biggest I've seen was one my buddies caught. It was right at 84".

I'm supposed to be going with some buddies to South Texas next year to catch some.

Just curious did your buddy catch it bare handed? Them suckers are STRONG when they get big.

[okrattler]

Just curious did your buddy catch it bare handed? Them suckers are STRONG when they get big.

Not to begin with no. But it took two of us to pick it up when he did pick it up live. You're right those sumbucks are stronger than heck. I had the tail end and it went to thrashing as soon as he picked it up. I had to hang on as good as I could so it didn't twist around in his hand. The tail alone was bigger around than a quarter. He pulled it out of a 55 gallon barrel right before picking it up and it went to thrashing and it was hitting the sides of that barrel and it was wobbling the barrel. You talk about solid muscle.......It was crazy. Absolutely huge snake.

You really have to have ahold when you commit to pinning the head down on a snake that big. They can twist around in your hand or drop a fang over their bottom lip and snag you once they go to thrashing around. Picking those like that up is dangerous business.

[twosixteens]

Biggest I've seen was one my buddies caught. It was right at 84".

I'm supposed to be going with some buddies to South Texas next year to catch some.

Just curious did your buddy catch it bare handed? Them suckers are STRONG when they get big.

[okrattler]

Even a 4 1/4 or 5 footer will surprise you. They're solid muscle. Trying to straighten one out and measure it is hard to do. It's like trying measure a coiled spring.

[twosixteens]

Yeah grabbed one over 4 foot once many years ago lucky I didn’t get bit he was stronger than i thought

[Bourland]

Attaboy

Rusty, that is fantastic information that may affect future travel plans!

Jon B,
You sir need to join us again soon. We miss ya down there buddy!

[SaltwaterSlick]

Yep. You are correct. The taxidermist gave me the actual measurement. He’s a TOAD. Almost 8’ held straight up!

Rusty, post that pic of you holdin' him up! Sucker looks 9 foot... (well until you find out that you're only 5 foot...

[Geezy Rider]

Even a 4 1/4 or 5 footer will surprise you. They're solid muscle. Trying to straighten one out and measure it is hard to do. It's like trying measure a coiled spring.

Yep. When measuring five and six footers we would use four people to hold them and massage them to get their length.

[Matt_C]

When I was a kid we'd ride around at night and pick them up off the road. We'd sell them to folks at the rattlesnake roundup. Was pretty good money for a hs kid.

http://www.rattlesnakeroundup.net/snake-hunters.html

So you showed signs early on that you weren't the sharpest tool in the shed huh!!!!

Just funning with ya Randy.

[okrattler]

Yep. When measuring five and six footers we would use four people to hold them and massage them to get their length.

Yeah you gotta have a few folks on them to get them straightened out. But I suppose even then you'd get a more accurate measurement once the snake is dead and every muscle is relaxed. I haven't actually ever done that just to see how much longer a rattlesnake is when it's completely relaxed.

The problem is most places offering cash for snakes want them live I would think. So lets say you measure a snake and it's 5 inches shy of what they need in order to cough up the money. In reality that snake probably is exactly that length but there's no way to get it stretched to maximum capacity without hurting or killing your valuable rattlesnake. I wonder if the place offering a cash reward would take that into account?

[RifleBowPistol]

I know my uncle killed a 7 footer, it was wrapped around the legs of ladder for his deer blind, one morning, when he was climbing out of the blind.

I have seen two that I am sure would get to 7 ft., possibly over. Neither hung around for me to find out how big they were. I tried to kill both, did not get either one. One was outside of Coleman, the other was outside of Encinal.

[MontagueMech]

I know my uncle killed a 7 footer, it was wrapped around the legs of ladder for his deer blind, one morning, when he was climbing out of the blind.

I have seen two that I am sure would get to 7 ft., possibly over. Neither hung around for me to find out how big they were. I tried to kill both, did not get either one. One was outside of Coleman, the other was outside of Encinal.

My dad grew up in the hills of Oklahoma and had to learn how to hunt at an early age in order to survive. He would occasionally mention how him and his brother would often watch for snake trails in the sandy clay soil where an oil pipeline was buried. There was one he said, that was as wide as a truck tire. They searched the area over and over but never found it. It was mentioned how they figured it must’ve been a very old snake to get that big around.

During one of his hunting trips he brought along a dog that he had trained. Dad told how the dog definitely saved his life because there was a rattlesnake well camouflaged in the path dad was walking towards. The dog spotted it and took the snake bite that most likely would’ve killed my dad that day. About four years ago dad passed away after battling dementia. Thankful for the hunting stories he shared when he was still in good health.

[Geezy Rider]

Yeah you gotta have a few folks on them to get them straightened out. But I suppose even then you'd get a more accurate measurement once the snake is dead and every muscle is relaxed. I haven't actually ever done that just to see how much longer a rattlesnake is when it's completely relaxed.

The problem is most places offering cash for snakes want them live I would think. So lets say you measure a snake and it's 5 inches shy of what they need in order to cough up the money. In reality that snake probably is exactly that length but there's no way to get it stretched to maximum capacity without hurting or killing your valuable rattlesnake. I wonder if the place offering a cash reward would take that into account?

I can’t speak for any other shows but all snakes had to be live that we purchased. And there is a big difference in length when they’ve been hanging dead versus just laying on the ground dead versus live, which I’m sure you know. .

[Bourland]

Biggun

Rusty, post that pic of you holdin' him up! Sucker looks 9 foot... (well until you find out that you're only 5 foot...

Haha! For reference I am 5’ 9”. Here he is fully stretched out to the ground. I’ll probably never forget that day. He was indeed hunting my feeder. I don’t take a step in tall grass out there anymore without looking first and remembering how high this dude jumped when I came up on him.
AINT NO PHOTOSHOP HERE FELLAS